From Here to There and just about Everywhere
by GleeFiction
Summary: After dropping out of college to chase big dreams of stardom, Santana is stuck in Louisville trying to get to the bright lights of New York City. Can a certain big lipped individual from her past get her there and help her dreams come true?
1. Chapter 1

**Not that anybody is going to read this, but I decided to just play around with the Sam/Santana ship in this story. While I will always love Fabrevans, I find their dynamic really interesting and wanted to give it a shot. In this story, Sam and his family are still living in Kentucky as he never returned to McKinley in season 3. Enjoy!**

"You're dropping out!?" Exclaimed the voice from Santana's laptop. "Santana you have been there for four months!"

"Four months too long if you ask my opinion" Santana said seriously.

"Santana, please, you have to consider the rest of your life here."

"I have, Quinn!" Santana snapped at the girl she was video chatting to. "I have considered the rest of my life, and all I know is that I can't stay in this red-neck breeding ground!" She said, waving her hands around as if it was some kind of soap-opera.

Quinn waited a minute before continuing. "Santana, I know how hard it is to adjust to college life, I mean, it took me weeks to finally settle here and-"

"Look, Quinn, everybody and their abuela knows that the college life is for you. I mean, you belong at Yale with that bunch of mouth breathers-" she paused, seeing how Quinn had taken offence at her comment "no offence- but I'm not you! I have better things to do instead of waving pom poms around in Kentucky!" She paused to let Quinn take her reasoning into account.

"And plus," she continued "I don't like the people here. Lord knows these hicks are cramping my style - I just don't fit in with them! I'm from Lima Heights, not Lima Trailer-Park, Quinn." She huffed after finishing her sentence.

"I know, I know." Quinn muttered "You always did hate the hicks at McKinley. You said that Stoner Brett was their gang leader devout to convert us all to their 'hick ways'" Quinn said, using air quotes to emphasise.

"Damn straight" Santana responded nonchalantly

"Just-" Quinn sighed "Just promise that you're going to have some sort of plan, San. You're not just going to show up in New York and expect to crash at Rachel and Kurt's?" She pleaded with Santana.

"Quinn, of course I'm not going to do that." She reassured the blonde seriously. "I can't stand Berry and Lady Hummel for more than two minutes, I'm not going to move in with them!" Santana, of course, was lying through her teeth with this promise, it had been her plan since deciding to drop out of college to live with them. She couldn't understand Quinn's insistence that she wasn't to do this, as far as Santana was concerned, she was awesome, and didn't see why anybody would be annoyed if she just showed up on their doorstep and told them she was moving in. Quinn was just being overly judgmental of Santana's choices right now.

"Ok, good." Quinn sighed in relief. "Look, I have to go, I'll talk to you soon. Be careful."

"I will, Quinn. I promise." Santana said with sincerity.

"Oh, and, Santana?" Quinn added "Don't do anything stupid." With that Quinn hung up the call.

'Whatever' Santana thought to herself. She wasn't going to do anything stupid. Her plan was fool-proof, she was going to talk to her advisors, get the correct forms to leave, load up her car, and be out of Louisville by tomorrow afternoon. Absolutely nothing could go wrong.

Or so she thought.

The next day, Santana put the final boxes full of her stuff into her car and began her trip to New York. She drove off of campus into town, the odd crunching sound of her car being stifled by her excited hums of joy along to the radio, and pulled into a gas station to get some fuel for her car. After filling up her car, Santana got back in and began to drive. She got about two blocks before smoke started to emerge from her car hood and the car completely stopped in the middle of the street.

"Oh no no no! For fucks sake!" Santana exclaimed hitting her steering wheel. "You had to do this to me today?" She screamed. She got out of the car, slammed the car door, pulled out her phone and began googling for a nearby mechanic. After phoning them, she sunk down and sat on the curb next to her car, waiting for assistance.

Soon enough a tow truck pulled up in front of Santana's car, and she stood up to greet the mechanic just getting out of the car. Looking down at the hood of the car he said:

"God, that's really pouring out of there" He swatted his hand in front of his face, Santana just rolled her eyes, even though she couldn't see the man behind the smoke, she had a strange sense that she disliked him, although she had that with most people, so it wasn't all that strange. "How exactly did this happen, Miss Lopez?" Before Santana could answer, however, his head whipped to look at Santana, and she finally realised why she felt so irritated by his presence.

"Santana!?" He exclaimed in shock

Standing before her was a boy with blond hair and an extremely toned body, green eyes and the biggest lips she had ever seen. In front of her was Sam Evans.

"Jesus Christ this day could not get any fucking worse!" Santana screamed into the air.

* * *

Pulling down the hood of the car, which had now stopped heaping with smoke, Sam walked over to Santana, who was stood resentfully with her arms folded behind her car.

In a cautious tone he began "Erm, I'm not quite sure how to say this, Santana but-"

"Let's cut the crap, Trouty, is my car fixed or not?" She interrupted Sam as he spoke. "I can't bare to be out here with you for much longer"

Giving himself a second to let Santana's insults bounce off of him, he replied. "Uh, Santana, I'm sorry but I don't think there is any possible way to fix your car."

"What!?" She erupted "What the hell are you talking about? My car is perfectly fine! Sure, a little old, but nothing that can't-"

"Santana your engine is being held together with a rubber band." He quipped back.

"At least it's being held together by something! Which is more than can be said for your sorry ass!" She said angrily, poking Sam in the chest.

"Look," He sighed "if you don't believe me I can tow you back to the garage and you can hear my boss tell you."

Santana considered for a moment, being in a car with the single most irritating person she has ever met (besides Rachel Berry) was surely punishment, but what the hell else was she supposed to do?

"Fine." She replied, hatred obvious in her voice. "But when we find out that you're wrong, Evans, you're going to regret the day you were born!" Santana spoke before quickly getting in the passenger's seat of Sam's tow truck.

Sam stood there, utterly blindsided, as he remembered just how much of a force Santana Lopez was.

"Hurry the fuck up, Lips, I don't have all day." She shouted, deadpan, from inside the truck. Instantly, Sam hooked up her car, got in his truck, and began to drive.

* * *

Santana watched as she saw Sam and another man fussing over her car, each of them mumbling something every now and then, it didn't take much of this before the older man, presumably Sam's boss, turned to Santana and said:

"Miss Lopez, I hate to be blunt, but I have never seen a car in worse condition." He stated sorrowfully. "I mean, your battery is burned out, your engine is falling apart, and your exhaust is trailing - it's practically broken …" He trailed off, hoping that Santana had understood him.

"What, uh - what does that mean?" She responded softly, evidently upset.

"It means that while we very much want to, we unfortunately can't do anything to fix your car. The best that we can offer is to give you a small amount of money for it so we can use it for spare parts, well, as many as we can salvage." He paused. "I am sorry."

"It's ok - thank you." She said tenderly to the man before he walked away.

Santana took a few steps away from her and began to think. How was she going to get to New York now? There was no way she could afford a plane ticket, and she sure as hell wasn't getting the train - she'd rather walk then use public transport to get across the country. After a few minutes of silence spent thinking, she was awakened by Sam walking over to her.

"Here you go." He chirped happily, giving her the cheque for her car. Santana looked down at it, she was so possessed by figuring out a way to get to New York that she couldn't even be insulted by the amount they'd offered her for her car.

"Thanks." She said dismissively.

"Hey, are you ok?" Sam asked genuinely "Because, in the time that I've known you, you have never once thanked me for anything, so something's bound to be wrong." He said jokingly

"Shut up" Santana laughed out with a small smile as Sam walked away. Before she could get back to forming a back up plan, she heard Sam call her name again.

"Santana, you need these boxes taking anywhere? I don't mind dropping them off anywhere for you." He said walking back over to her slowly

She paused for a minute, swallowing a lump in her throat, trying to figure out what to say as he looked up at her, his eyes piercing through her.

With a dry throat she managed to squeak out "Erm, thanks Sam, but seeing as I have no idea where I'm even going to stay right now I think my stuff can wait."

"What do you mean you have nowhere to stay? I thought you were at college here?" He asked in a non-judgemental way

"I was, but I dropped out yesterday and moved out of my dorm today, so I'm a little stuck, I was actually just leaving for New York when all this happened." She gestured to the car being emptied by out in front of her.

"I'm sorry, San." He replied sadly "I didn't know, but I think I may be able to help to you."

Santana looked up at him with confusion as he began to explain.

* * *

Before she knew it, Santana was sat around a small table in the Evans household with all of Sam's family, his little brother leaning across her to tug his sister's hair.

"Stevie - if I have to tell you once more to stop that I'll tell Santana here about what happened last week at your friends birthday." Mary, Sam's mother, said in a stern tone, which instantly put a stop to his actions.

Santana shot a confused look to Sam who mouthed 'He peed himself' in reply, causing Santana to giggle.

"So, Santana, what is it that you do these days? We haven't had the, uh, pleasure of seeing you for well over a year now." Sam's father asked, referring to the time in which her and Sam had briefly dated in their junior year, causing shivers to go down Santana's back in disgust.

"Well, I was a student at the University of Louisville, but that didn't work out, so I'm moving to New York." She stated simply, smiling at Sam's father, Dwight.

"And Sammy is giving you a ride?" Mary asked.

Santana just nodded in response. As it turns out, Rachel had been berating Sam to go and visit her and Kurt in New York for the better part of three months, and eventually, Sam gave in and was planning on going up for a few days, fortunately enough for her (or unfortunately, as Santana saw it), she was able to get a ride with Sam in his truck to New York.

After dinner, Sam and Santana were sat out on the porch as his parents put his younger siblings to bed.

"I gotta say, Trouty, when you suggested I stay with you, I was expecting a tent in a field - given your track record with, you know, not having a house-" Sam just shook his head and chuckled "but I'm actually pleasantly surprised." She said, looking at him with a small smile. "And, as much as it pains me to say, thankful that I'm not out on my ass."

Sam laughed in response before responding "Well, we've done our best here, I mean, it's nothing compared with what we used to have, but it's better than a motel." He stated honestly.

They sat in silence for a while before Santana piped up again.

"Truthfully, I am shocked that you still talk to Rachel Berry. I mean, you pretty much fell out of contact with the rest of us after a few weeks."

"Yeah, well, it's not like I talk to Rachel, it's more like she talks at me and I pretend to listen." He said, getting a laugh out of Santana.

"And here I was thinking that I taught you nothing." She stated with a jokey sense of pride.

As they sat and spoke, Santana remembered that whilst Sam was incredibly annoying with his impressions and awful jokes, she didn't despise him as much as she thought she did. When she was with Sam, she wasbdesperately trying to figure out who she was, and how that was going to fit into the life that she was trying to lead, but over the past year, she realised that, regardless of who she became, the people that cared about her would always be there, so nothing else mattered. Talking to Sam, she realised why she had been inclined to tolerate his ways before; because he cared. For some unknown reason, he listened, and Santana found herself realising this - until he tried to do a Matthew McConaughey impression.

"Enough, please." She raised her hand to stop him. "I need to go to bed without the sound of that Texan bouncing around in my head." She explained to Sam, getting a chuckle from him.

"Alright, Alright, Alright." He conceded, giving Santana a wink when she realised that he was quoting him again. She laughed lightly and stalked off to bed, ready to hit the road tomorrow in the first steps to her dreams coming true.

 **If there is anybody out there reading this, drop a review of what you think, it goes a lot further than you think - and if you want more, let me know! - GleeFiction**


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Santana watched as Sam and his dad loaded up the truck with her things, ready to hit the road to New York. After a few minutes, his mom joined her and stood watching.

"You guys ready to go now?" Mary asked, turning to where Sam and Dwight were.

"I think that's everything now." Sam said, turning to Santana. "You sure do have a lot of crap."

Santana flashed a scowl at him, but Sam knew that if his parents weren't stood there, she would have given him the finger.

After Sam said his goodbye's and double checked that he had everything, he got in the drivers side and waited for Santana.

"I - uh - I just wanted to say thank you for offering me your home for the night." She paused. "I wouldn't have known what to do if not." She said honestly, meeting Mary and Dwight's eyes. Mary then hugged her and told her she was welcome at any time, and for the first time in her life, she actually believed it, with a wave, she entered the car and Sam drove away.

* * *

Things were quiet between the pair for about an hour, Sam concentrating on the road and Santana concentrating on anything but Sam. She wasn't exactly sure how to approach the topic of conversation with him, last night it had been different, she was this vulnerable version of herself that needed him. Today, however, she was back to being plain old Santana, so she decided to approach the silence the only way she knew how.

"So, Sam," She paused.

"So, Santana." He replied with an easy smile, not taking his eyes from the road.

"How have things changed since we last spoke?" She said simply, waiting to unleash herself at him.

"Erm, not that much, really. I mean, I live in Kentucky now, and I don't really sing anymore, but apart from that, nothing's really happened. I mean, Avatar is no longer my favourite movie, it's-"

Santana cut him off, unable to listen to his dribble much longer.

"Still in love with Quinn Fabray then?" She stabbed at him.

"What?" Sam laughed out. "What makes you think that?" He said in a light tone, finally looking at her.

"Well, you say nothing's changed, and the last time we spoke you were still madly in love with her, so I figured that-"

"The last time we spoke we were making out on your bed in junior year, San." She didn't like it when he called her that. "And I wasn't in love with her then. I'm not sure I ever was." Sam said honestly, keeping his cool despite the fact that he knew Santana was just trying to get a rise out of him.

"Don't mention us making out again, lips. It hurts my head enough knowing I let that face-vacuum of yours anywhere near me." Santana said spitefully, to which Sam just laughed, she wasn't sure why her bitchiness wasn't working with him, whatever it was, it made her squirm.

"And plus," Sam carried on, much to her dismay. "me and you were together for just as long as me and Quinn were."

"That's different, though, what we had was not a real relationship." Santana spat, unsure of why Sam was being so annoying.

"I thought it was." He stated casually. "And besides," he whispered out so that Santana could barely hear him, "it was just as hard losing you as it was losing Quinn."

She didn't like the way he had said that. What the hell was it supposed to mean? It was hard losing her? Nobody had ever found it hard to lose her, not even Brittany had broke a sweat when Santana had dumped her, despite the fact that Santana was falling apart inside when she had done so. She turned back to face the road, shooting him a look every now again. Sam seemed completely normal, as if he hadn't just said something that had rocked Santana to the core for a reason she had no clue of.

* * *

"Will this do?" He asked her as they pulled into a diner on the side of the highway that looked pretty usual. They had been driving for about four hours, and all Santana wanted was some food so badly that she didn't care where she ate.

"Yeah, this is cool." She stated calmly, hoping out of his truck and walking in, finding a table near the door to sit at. The place was pretty much empty, apart from the staff and a few guys in sleeveless shirts that looked like they drove trucks, causing Santana to wince (those damn hicks). After browsing the menu, her and Sam ordered, both opting for a salad on the menu and some coffee, an odd combination, she knew, but at this point, she didn't care about strange, the past few days had been odd enough. She looked up at Sam then, his yawn catching her attention.

"How are you tired?" She hissed. "We've been driving for four hours, Sam."

Sam just shrugged his shoulders in response. Santana assuming from his reaction that he was too tired to answer her.

When the food came, Sam gulped down his coffee in an instant, and then proceeded to eat, him and Santana sat in silence. After they had both had finished, Santana turned her gaze to Sam, who looked totally out of it. Before she could stop herself, Santana was asking Sam if he wanted her to drive for a while.

"You wouldn't mind?" Sam responded to her question hopefully, his tiredness evidently getting the best of him.

"I don't want to die because you fell asleep at the wheel, Trouty, so no, I don't mind." She spat out calmly, keeping her bitchiness to a minimum.

"Thanks, San. I'm exhausted."

She waved her hand in reply, payed the bill, and went to the car. After a fifteen minute explanation of the route that Santana was going to be driving for the next few hours whilst Sam slept, she started up the car, and began to drive. Everything was going fine, she had even turned the radio on quietly, getting lost in the songs as she drove in the lowering light. Nothing much was on her mind, apart from the nerves that were starting to settle in about her plan - maybe Quinn was right about her choice, New York was always going to be there, and Santana could have always went after college. She sighed and rolled her eyes, this was not typical Santana Lopez thinking, she was a badass that made her decisions with strong conviction - she was not about to wuss out of the chance to follow her dreams, especially after everything Sam had done for her in the last forty-eight hours.

Sam.

She looked across at his sleeping self, covered in a light blanket, his huge mouth slightly open. He was a nice guy, Santana always knew this, even when she didn't want to admit it about him. She knew that she could have been better to him, too, not just for his kindness over the past few days, but in general. She was awful to him sometimes - she even carried around a notebook with her in her senior year filled with insults about his enormous mouth, just incase she ever bumped into him - and yet he just met her with kindness, she didn't get it. Despite all of her bitchiness, he never let it get to him. She admitted to herself that he did look quite cute whilst she stared at him, the yellow sunlight was washing over him, making him look almost angelic.

'Ugh, stop!' Santana thought to herself as she analysed his sleeping body. 'You never think anybody looks 'angelic', you're from Lima Heights! Stop being so soft.' She scolded herself in her head before focusing on the road ahead of her, not looking at Sam again, completely oblivious that she had just missed her exit off of the highway.

* * *

She watched as Sam opened his eyes slowly, waiting for what was about to come. He looked at the clock on the dashboard, it was 11pm.

"Sleep well?" She asked him, eyes back on the road.

"Yeah, I did actually." He said lightly as he sat up properly and looked at Santana. "Where are we now?" He asked her, looking out of the window to try and figure it out.

"Oh, yeah, uh, about that…" Santana said, nerves evident in her voice, finally looking at Sam, his eyes were burning into hers. "I, uh, kinda took a wrong turn and got a little lost, so I tried to find my way out and -"

"Santana, where are we?" His voice was unnervingly calm.

"Pittsburgh."

What followed from Sam's mouth was a string of profanities that Santana herself would have been proud of. His arms were flailing up in the air as he scolded her for not waking him up. Santana had never seen this side of him before, only seeing the nice and gentle side of him, and even though she'd ever admit it, she thought there was something quite attractive about him when he got worked up. It was quite impressive, really. When he'd finally calmed down, he looked at Santana calmly.

"Pull over, San."

"Why? I know where I'm going now." Santana said, lying - she had no idea where she was going at all, she just didn't like taking orders from anyone else.

"Really? Because as far as I can see you can't be trusted to drive anymore!" Sam exclaimed with a laugh, catching Santana off guard.

"Fuck you, Fish Face, at least I'm trying!" She spat back spitefully.

"Please just pull over, Santana." Sam said, his voice much more tender than before. Despite her lack of want, Santana rolled her eyes and obliged to his request, pulling the car over on to the side of road.

Soon after, Sam and Santana were stood at the front of the car, the hood covered in maps, as they tried to figure out their route to New York - it didn't take Sam long to get frustrated with Santana's attempted help, so eventually she just and sat back in the truck. About twenty minutes later Sam got back in the truck, handed Santana a piece of paper with his planned route on, and started driving. It didn't take that long to get back on track, and after about thirty minutes of driving, Sam had actually calmed down enough to joke around with Santana.

"How did you mess up that bad that you ended up in the middle of Pittsburgh?" Sam laughed out lightly, eyes on the road still.

"I missed the exit and then I just panicked!" Santana replied, her voice loud but not aggressive.

"Yeah but - Pittsburgh!?" Sam asked her with a loud laugh, obviously forgetting his previous anger. "It's not even close to where we were meant to be!"

"Shut up!" Santana giggled as she rolled her eyes at him, her smile wide.

They returned to silence soon after this, but it wasn't awkward, and even though she'd never admit it, Santana was quite enjoying the company of Sam - that was until they reached a bridge they had to cross to continue with their journey.

"What the hell?" Sam asked as he stopped the car and got out, Santana following him. "Hey, what's going on?" Sam asked one of the men that appeared to be closing the bridge.

"There's a storm coming through tonight, the bridge isn't safe to cross." He replied, evidently not paying much attention to the pair.

"Is there another way through?" Santana asked and was met with the shake of a head.

"My advice would be to get yourselves a room at the motel down the road, there's no way you're getting through tonight."

Sam just nodded and went back to the car with Santana, slamming the door shut as he got it. Wordlessly, he began to drive around looking for the motel the man had mentioned, rain beginning to pour. Santana could feel that Sam was irritated again, and something inside of her ached at the thought of it, almost instantly, as if he was reading her thoughts, he spoke up.

"I'm not annoyed at you, San." His tone was soft.

"But I got us into this mess." She whispered out calmly, noticing that they were pulling into the parking lot of the motel.

He took her hand that was on her lap after he parked and looked at her. "It could have happened to anyone, don't beat yourself up." His smile made whatever bad feeling she had wash away - it was replaced with a feeling deep in her stomach that Santana didn't at all like. They got out of the car and walked into the reception of the motel, Sam didn't say anything when Santana reached across and took his hand into hers as they walked. After getting the keys, the pair walked to their room in silence, only breaking it when Sam opened the door and revealed the room, only one bed in view.

"For fuck sake!" Santana whispered to herself in frustration as she closed the door behind her.

 **That's chapter two! Hope you enjoyed - please review if you liked it! - GleeFiction**


End file.
